The AFL is promoting next year’s fixture list as one for the fans, with more Saturday afternoon matches and no Sunday night or Monday night games.
The season will start a week late on 2 April because of the cricket World Cup, with Carlton and Richmond clashing on Thursday night at the MCG. The late start also means there will be only one bye round per team, down from two this year. There will be 47 weekend afternoon matches in Victoria, up from 34 this year.
The traditional Saturday afternoon blockbusters at the MCG will feature Carlton v Essendon, Essendon against Collingwood, the Magpies playing Carlton and Collingwood v Richmond.
The league has also abandoned its extremely unpopular Sunday night and Monday night experiment, but it will continue with Thursday night games. Saturday night games on the eastern seaboard will start 20 minutes earlier, at 7.20pm. Anzac Day falls on a Saturday and will feature five matches.
Apart from the traditional Essendon v Collingwood blockbuster at the MCG, St Kilda will start the day by hosting Carlton in Wellington. GWS will also play Gold Coast in Canberra, Port Adelaide will host Hawthorn and Fremantle will play their annual Len Hall tribute match against Sydney.
The AFL has again grouped the teams in three groups of six, depending on their ladder positions this season, to manage double match-ups through next year.
There will be no Good Friday game in round one, despite the AFL Commission having given permission for it to happen. The grand final will be played on 3 October, rather than the traditional last weekend in September.
